Hogan, Mantuano to create River Roast restaurant

Chefs Tony Mantuano and John Hogan have been friends for 25 years. Now they're about to become co-workers.

Mantuano, who also heads up Spiaggia, Bar Toma and Terzo Piano, announced that the restaurant he's opening in River North (at 315 N. LaSalle St., formerly home to Fulton's on the River) will be named River Roast, and that John Hogan, former executive chef at Keefer's steakhouse, will be executive chef.

"We've kicked ideas around for years," said Hogan, a fixture at Mantuano's "Masters of the Grill" dinner, held every summer in Kenosha, Wis. "Finally, something happened."

The new restaurant's name springs from the way most of the main courses will be cooked. Among the signature dishes will be a cold-smoked and roasted chicken, slow-roasted beef and whole-roasted fish.

A large open kitchen will be the dining room's focal point, and like Fulton's before it, River Roast will take full advantage of its riverside location.

"I hate to say it," said Hogan, who helmed Keefer's for more than a dozen years, "but I can't wait to not do steaks. I'm ready to cook again."